vernor Oglesby took up a church affiliation. It
always seemed strange to me, in his later life, that a man of his
undoubted bravery should have such a perfect horror of death, which
was an obsession with him. To his intimate friends he constantly
talked of it. It was not the physical pain of dying; with a man
of his pronounced religious convictions it could not have been the
uncertainty of the hereafter. What was the basis of the fear I
cannot imagine--but certain it is, I do not remember ever knowing
a man who seemed to have such a fear of death.

At an advanced age, he passed away peacefully and painlessly at
his beautiful home at Elkhart, Illinois, mourned by the people of
the whole State, whom he had served so long and faithfully and well.

CHAPTER XV
SENATORIAL CAREER
1883 to 1911

After I was re-elected Governor of Illinois, in 1880, my friends
in the State urged me to become a candidate for the United States
Senate to succeed the late Hon. David Davis, whose term expired
March 3, 1883. I finally consented. There were several candidates
against me, Governor Richard Oglesby and General Thomas J. Henderson
being the two most prominent. It was not much of a contest, and
I had no serious struggle to secure the caucus nomination. The
objection was then raised in the Legislature itself that I was not
eligible under the Constitution of our State for election to the
United States Senate while I was serving as Governor of Illinois.
The point looked somewhat serious to me, and I consulted with my
friend, the Hon. Wm. J. Calhoun, then a member of the Legislature,
later Minister to China, for whose ability I had the most profound
respect. I asked him to give attention to the subject and, if he
agreed with me that I was eligible, to make the fight on the floor
of the House. He looked into it and came to the conclusion there
was no doubt as to my eligibility. He made a speech in the
Legislature, which was regarded then as one of the ablest efforts
ever delivered on the floor of the House, and he carried the
Legislature with him. When the time came, I received the vote of
every Republican member of both Houses, excepting one, the Hon.
Geo. E. Adams. He was thoroughly conscientious in voting against
me, and did so from no ulterior motive, as he honestly believed
that I was not eligible. We became very good friends afterwards,
and I never harbored any ill feeling against him on account of that
vote.

I appr